Brick-machnsfe



H. H. STRAWBRIDGE, OF NEW ORLEANS, AND DANIEL TYSON, OF COVINGTON,LOUISIANA.

BRICK-TEACHINE.

Speccation of Letters Patent No. 9,394', dated November 9, 1852.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that we, HENRY H. STRAW- mnsn, ciNew Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, and DANIELTrsoN, of Covington, in the parish of St. Tammany and St-ate ofLouisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinesfor Molding and Pressing Bricks at One Operation; and we do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofour said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form part of this specifica-tion, and in which- Figure lrepresents a View in perspective oil our brick machine, Fig. 2 is avertical longitudinal sect-ion of the same, and Fig. 3 is across-section of a portion of the machine.

ln our machine the molds are secured to a reciprocating carriage bywhose movement they are passed beneath a hopper in which the brick-clayis introduced; they are then passed beneath a compresser by which theclay is compressed in the molds; and are iinally carried to adischarging apparatus by whose action the pressed bricks are dischargedfrom the molds. The carriage sustains two sets of molds which arealternately brought beneath the same press. Suitable stationary devicesare also secured to the farine of the machine for the purpose of gagingthe quantity of clay to be pressed into the molds, and also for thepurpose of striking oli' any surplus and smoothing the upper surfaces ofthe bricks.

The several acting members of the machine as represented in theaccompanying drawings are all secured to a strong frame A whose upperrails B supports the w'ays D upon which the carriage O slides. Thelatter consists of a strong bed or table of wood or some other suitablematerial which is held down upon the ways by means of top plates a, a,and is caused to move endwise to and i'ro by menas of a cog wheel E andrack F, the former being secured to a transverse driving shaft Gr, whilethe latter is secured to the lower face of the carriage.

The two sets of molds in which the bricks are formed are secured to thecarriage at equal distances in each direction from its center. Each set,H, comprises in this instance six molds, whose breadth and length areequal to those of the bricks to be formed. These molds are open at thetop and are closed at the bottom by a movable block or piston `7), whichwhen at its lowest position is far enough below the top of the mold toadmit a finished brick. The extremities of thes mold-pistons when attheir lowest positions rest upon the ways D on which the carriage moves.The pistons of each set of molds are projected upwards to discharge thebricks by means of a pair of elevating rails I, I, which are pivoted tothe upper extremities of radius bars c c, whose lower extremities arepivotted to the lower rails d, CZ, orn the main trame. These rails actupon the lower extremities of arms c e which project downward from thelower faces of the pistons. They are moved in the proper directions toraise the pistons or to lower them by means of stops f, g, secured tothe lower ace of the carriage; these stops are secured in such positionsthat one of them, f, strikes the inner extremity or' the set ofelevating rails as the correspondingV set of molds is brought over themby the movement of the carriage, and causes them to move outward withthe carriage; while the other stop g, which is situated near theextremity of the carriage, strikes the set of elevating rails and causesthem to move inward with the carriage. When the carriage is in its meanposit-ion the radius bars c c of each set of elevating rails inclineinward (or toward the center of the machine) and sonsequently theoutward movement of the rails, by turning the radius bars into uprightpositions, causes the rails to rise, in which movement they strike thelower extremities of the piston arms and project the pistons upward intheir molds; while, on the contrary7 the inward movement or the rails,by restoring the radius bars to their inclined positions7 lowers therails, which movement allows the pistons to sink in their molds untiltheir extremities rest upon the ways.

The several devices for filling the molds with clay, pressing the clay,and discharging the bricks from the carriage, are all secured to themain frame above the carriage. The pressing apparatus is situated at themiddle of the machine. It consists of a press block or platen J, whoselower face is of suiiicient size to cover the upper face of either setof molds. This press-block is supported by a pair of cross-bars It, h,which are passed transversely through mortises at its extremities andproject beyond its opposite sides.

The projecting extremities of each cross bar are secured to springs z',which bear upon the main frame and tend to force the crossh bars, andthe press block through which they pass, upward. The upper face of thepress block slopes downward in each direction from the center toward theends; it has grooves j, j, formed in it, whose inclination is shown bythe dotted lines in Fig. 2, and which deviate more and more rapidly froma horizontal line as they near the opposite extremities of the pressblock. These grooves are traversed by friction wheels 7c c, which aresecured to the lower extremities of swing bars L L; the latter arepivoted at their upper extremities to a cap K, which is supported bystandards in a stationary position above the press block. The lowerextremities of the swing bars are caused to approach each other by meansof a bent lever M and link N. The longer arm of this lever projectsbetween a pair of bent bars Z, Z, which guide it when it is raised ordepressed and are perforated to admit a transverse pin 0 to limit thedistance to which the lever can be depressed. When the lever isdepressed the swing bars L occupy the positions in which they arerepresented in black lines at Fig. 2, and when the lever is raised theswing bars occupy the positions in which they are represented in redlines in the same figure. As the swing bars diverge the friction wheello, 7c, are raised, and consequently the press block on which they bearwill be permitted to rise under the action of the springs; the latteralso facilitate the raising of the lever M, as their pressure upon thepress block causes the inclined tracks to act as an obtuse wedge betweenthe friction wheels and force them to diverge from the center of themachine.

From the peculiar shape of the tracks on the press block, combined withthe action of the bent lever, the pressure upon the clay in the mold isprogressively increased as it is compressed, and this increase ofpressure may be regulated to suit any particular case by altering thecurve of the tracks. Thus if the pressure is to be increased the outerextremities of the tracks must be raised, and if it is to be diminishedthe inclination of the tracks must be increased.

The lioppers into which the clay is thrown are situated at eachextremity of the press block as represented at O O. Each is separatedfrom the adjacent extremity of the press block by a roller P, whoseouter side is fitted with a scraper m, by whose action the barrel of theroller is freed from adhering clay. The barrel of this roller is at sucha distance from the vface of the carriage that when the molds passbeneath it, a quantity of clay, sufficient with that in the molds, toform the bricks, will be left upon them, its upper surface being evenlysmoothed off by the action of this gaging roller P, which turns by thefriction of its barrel upon the clay passing beneath. The outer side ofeach clay hopperOis fitted with a knife n, whose edge extends across thecarriage, and which, as the molds are moved outward, severs from thebricks in the molds any excess of compressed clay which may projectabove them. A smoothing or striking bar p is secured to the extremity ofeach hopper beyond the knife n. The inner angle of this bar is roundedas shown in the drawing, and its lower face is so close to the faceofthe carriage that it smootlis and compresses the upper faces of thebricks in the molds as they pass outward beneath it.

A discharging bar R is placed at each extremity of the machine to throwoff the bricks when the moldpistons and the bricks laying upon them havebeen raised by the action of the elevating rails I, I, beneath. Each ofthese discharging bars is secured to a pair of oblique guide rods s swhich slide in guides t t. Each rod is moved obliquely across thecarriage by means of a lever r one of whose extremities is pivoted tothe main frame while its other extremity is fitted with a pin v whichtraverses in a slot formed by attaching a rod a to the side of thedischarging bar R. The middle of this lever is pivoted to a rod S whichextends through a guide staple Iw secured to a crossbar T on the mainframe. extremity of this rod is bent downward in such a position thatthe end of the carriage in moving outward shall strike it. Eachextremity of the carriage has an inclined groove m sunk in it, whichcorresponds in position with the bent extremity of the adjacent rod.These grooves terminate in sockets (as shown in dotted lines at Fig. 2)into which the bent extremities of the rods can sink. When the carriagein its endwise movement strikes the bent extremity of the rod, thelat-ter rises and traverses the inclined groove until the socket at itsextremity is brought beneath the rod, which is pressed into this socketby the action of a spring y, and is then carried along with thecarriage; as the bar is thus drawn outward the lever r is moved and thedischarging bar is forced t0 move obliquely across the faces of themolds. When the motion of the carriage is reversed, the rod S is movedbackward until its bent extremity strikes the crossbar T, when thecontinued movement of the carriage causes the extremity of the rod torise in the inclined groove which traverses beneath it until theextremity of the carriage passes within the extremity of the main frame.When the rod S is thus moved inward the lever r and discharging bar Rare moved back to their first posit-ions.

The machine represented in the accompanying drawings is arranged forworking The outer by manual labor. The clay is thrown into the hoppersO, O, and the carriage is caused to move endwise alternately in oppositedirections by turning a crank U secured to the shaft Gr of the drivingwheel E. As the molds pass beneath the hoppers they are filled withclay, and as they pass beneath the roller l?, the latter rolls down theclay in the molds leaving a certain thickness of clay laying upon them.As the carriage is still moved onward, the molds are brought beneath thepress block J, when the further movement of the carriage is stopped bythe crank striking a sliding stop e at the side of the frame. Power isnow applied to the bent lever M, which is forced downward, by whichmeans the clay laying upon the molds is forced into them, thuscompressing the clay in the molds and fornr ing the bricks. The lever Mis now raised and the carriage is moved in the opposite direction byreversing the movement of the cra-nk. By this reverse movement thefilled molds are carried outward toward the eX- tremity of the mainframe; as they pass beneath the knife n, the latter severs any surplusclay from the bricks, and as they pass beneath the striking bar p, itsmooths 0E their upper surfaces. The molds in their outward movement arebrought over the elevating` rails I, I, which are forced outward andrise by the action of the stop f. As they rise, they force up the moldpistons b Z) which eject the bricks from the molds. When the bricks havereached this position they are struck endwise by the discharging bar R,which pushes them endwise from the pistons and delivers them upon theside charged with their proper quantity of clay,

are brought beneath the press block J and have the clay compressed intothem. The movement of the carriage is then reversed to carry out thelilled molds while the other set are again moved inward. As each set ofmolds pass inward their corresponding elevating rails l", I, being movedby the outer stop g on the carriage, are lowered to lower the pistons intheir molds and thus admit a fresh charge of clay.

What we claim as oui` invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis l. The roller (P) in combination with a reciprocating series ofmolds, for the purpose of gaging the quantity of clay to be compressedinto the said molds, the several parts being arranged and operating asherein described.

2. The method herein described of linishing the surface of dry-claybricks in molds by rst shaving off the surplus material and thensmoothing the shaved surface by rubbing it under heavy pressure, whileconfined in the mold, to prevent it from breaking under the operation,as it would do if not so confined.

ln testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

H. l-l. STRAVBRIDGE. DANEL TYSON. VVit-nesses:

MARTIN Gr. PENN, C. M. STRAWBRIDGE.

